This topic was suggested to me by one of our regulars, so I can't take credit for it. Also, caution--agenda alert. If you like the idea of hope springing eternal each October, then bypass this thread.

We thought we'd ask our posters to track down famous "unity" and "we have a better culture" thus we will succeed this year where other Bucks teams in the past have failed. There really is a gold mine of these out there.

I'll start us out with the famous 1996 training camp where coach Chris Ford took the whole team to Oshkosh for camp. The 1996 team finished with a 33-49 record.

b) The players took a poll and came to the consensus that their chances of catching the big one were better on Lake Winnebago than Lake Michigan.

c) With a new head coach, with new assistant coaches and more new players than should be legal, they want an environment in which to bond.

d) None of the above.

If you picked "c" you're partially correct. New Bucks coach Chris Ford wants to build a better rapport among his players and staff.

But he also wants to instill some discipline. Bucks players will be transported to and from practices by bus. No cars allowed.

In other words, instead of heading to some nightclub in downtown Milwaukee after a practice at the Cousins Center — like some Bucks did in recent years — they'll head back to their rooms where, of course, they'll religiously study their playbook.

Despite suffering a gruesome season-ending injury back in April, Bucks center Andrew Bogut is one of the players participating in early workouts and so far, he likes what he sees.

"I like being out here and seeing what we've got going," Bogut said. "I like the pieces, I'm excited about coming into the season. It's very exciting with the moves we've made in the off-season. This is probably the biggest step forward off the floor personnel-wise we've made since I've probably been here."

Bogut liked what he saw.

"My main thing is you can't come back as the same player," Jennings said. "Now that we have a lot of great pieces to the team, we added other players, I think it will be easier for me this year to get my assists up and still score at times but be more of a leader. I know what to expect this year. It's nothing new for me this year so now it's more just taking care of my body and taking care of my legs and just get ready to hopefully play 82 games again like last year."

“If guys come in here not focused on a championship, just making the playoffs, we need to trade them. We need to be talking about championship and nothin’ else. You can’t limit yourself to just playoffs. Who wants to do that? Playoffs is not really an achievement to me. Anybody can get to the playoffs.”

“If I’m shot, I’ma get stitched and play the next game. I got hit by a car and played two days later.”

“I’m always 100 percent.”

“Last time I had a good point guard and a big man, I was able to win a championship, that was with San Antonio.”

“I think he’s top three. I got him behind Dwight and Gasol.”

“I was on the opposite end of 55 points, so I know what this kid can do.”

“Ya’ll know me, I’ma tell you the truth, love it or leave it. You don’t like me, I don’t care anyway. I’ma tell you what’s real and I’ma tell you how I feel. I definitely feel we can get this thing done. I’ve always wanted to play for Scott, He’s one of the very few coaches I go over and shake hands with when I’m on the opposing team.

“He’s a fiery guy, and I’m looking forward to me and him arguing, because that means the fire is on the team and we goin’ in the right direction. To be able to play for him and Jim is a blessing for me.”

“Who won the championship again? I didn’t even watch the playoffs.”

“Dallas sucks to me.”

“My name is Slash, I play whatever. I played center in Golden State, I played four in Golden State. Wherever I need to be man, I’m just ready to play. I’ll guard anybody, I’ll do anything.”

“I don’t mind leading by example, I don’t mind fighting for my teammates, I don’t mind putting myself on the line for my teammates.”

“You can’t teach somebody how to be a leader.”

“Was there a lockout? I don’t know, I wasn’t even watching the news, I wasn’t affected by the lockout, I don’t have money problems. Yeah I wasn’t playing basketball, but I can’t control that. I was doing my music stuff at the time.”

“When it was over, they called us, told us to come. Now I know what’s going on.”

“We have all the tools here. We got two stars in Brandon and Andrew. This their team, no question about that. Me and the other guys, we gotta buy in and back these guys up.”

Working for the weekend Bucks spend the first weekend of camp preparing for busy week by Adam Rose / special to Bucks.com

October 4, 2008

MILWAUKEE -- The 2008 training camp is less than a week old, but a survey of Charlie Bell and Jon McGlocklin shows they're impressed with what they’ve seen so far. Bucks.com visited with Bell and McGlocklin for their impressions and also sat in the with the media as Scott Skiles gave a status update on what’s happening in practice these days.

We’ll start with Scott Skiles discussing what the weekend practices will be like as the Bucks prepare for their first exhibition game against the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Bradley Center (Monday, October 6 with a 7 p.m. tip-off).

“We won’t stray too far from what we’re doing right now,” Skiles said. “We just want to firm up habits. Keep the effort level high where it is and stay on top of things if there’s slippage.

“We have four games next week. You can get a lot done in a practice gym, of course, but those exhibition games are really invaluable. You’re suiting up against another team finally and we’re looking at tape. We’re looking at other players and other teams. It’s different. Those are more teaching tools.”

Since defense has been the main topic from the day Skiles was hired, it might have been refreshing for him to field a question on the team’s offensive gameplans for the season and how things are progressing on that front.

“We’re trying to do what everybody’s trying to do, play to the guys strengths and stay away from their weaknesses,” Skiles noted. “We’ll run some things that we ran in Chicago and then we’ll run some things unique to the guys we have here. I don’t think you can just take an offense with you everywhere you go. Unless you have a team that’s very similar. It has to be tailored somewhat if not all the way to the talent you have.”

Skiles told the media that the team has been installing its offense at the start of each practice and right now they have enough in to play a game. He still expects to add more before Monday night, but he’ll evaluate things following the Minnesota game.

“We’ll put in a little more before the first game and we’ll see how it goes,” Skiles said. “We’ll see how it’s working and we’ll add or subtract accordingly depending upon what we think is fitting with our personnel and how things are going.”

As far as how many sets are needed, he pointed out that it all depends on the team and personnel. Skiles noted there are some good teams that run about five things just as there are other teams that run 60 to be successful. He’ll evaluate how successful things are on Monday and decide to add or subtract from there.

As for his expectations for putting the ball in the hoop this year, Skiles answered that question with the following: “It should be a pretty good scoring team, but that’s not what I want our focus to be.”

That probably sounds good to all the Bucks fans who have been hoping for an improved defense this year. Along those same lines, Jon McGlocklin and Charlie Bell’s comments about camp through the first several days will also sound good.

Bucks.com asked Jon McGlocklin what his impressions were of the practices he has attended thus far. McGlocklin commented, “I love it. I love the organization, the command that Scott and the coaches have. It’s great. I think it’s a good camp.

“The players are focused and in-tune. Some of the things that you notice are the veterans talking to other guys about different things on the court. Things like – set the screen this way or do this and that. I’ve already seen a lot of that.”

Because McGlocklin was so impressed with camp thus far, it’s probably no surprise that this is what he was expecting from Skiles all along.

“I expected the kind of organization, detail and enthusiasm that you see from Scott and this system,” McGlocklin said. “This is what I expected so there’s no surprise there. We knew what we were getting with Scott Skiles and you see it out there. There’s a crispness to it. As a player I liked being able to come in – no matter how many hours that you’re going to go – that you know what to expect and that you’re going to go hard for that time rather than stopping and standing. He doesn’t do that. He keeps it going and as a player that’s something that I appreciated mentally and physically.”

Now that we know what Jon McGlocklin’s thoughts are as a former player observing camp, we can compare his impressions to Charlie Bell, who is in his fourth training camp with the Bucks.

Bucks.com asked Bell what, if anything is different from previous years. “More intensity,” Bell said almost instantly. “ I think guys are really getting after it on the defensive end. Guys are really playing hard. You can really see that we’re working hard as a team.”

He also complemented the balance of practice and Coach Skiles’ ability to push players to get more out of them, but not overdoing it (as Skiles mentioned in our previous camp report).

“Coach is doing a great job of recognizing when guys are tired,” Bell noted. “He’s pushing us, not over the limit, but to the limit. Everybody’s having a good time with each other and it’s been fun.”

As Bell commented, players have been having a good time and enjoying camp while taking care of business on the court. Their enthusiasm is creating some excitement with those who have observed their practices.

Jon McGlocklin has been with the Bucks since day one and showed some real enthusiasm when he told us “I’m excited about what we have in terms of leadership here in the coaches. I’m excited about the trades and the type of players we have. I think we’ve got a chance to get back into the hunt.

“I think the Jefferson trade was critical. The greatest trade we made was for Oscar Robertson. After that, I think the Jefferson trade falls in there in the top three or four. That, along with the other players we have, I’m real hopeful for this season.”

Charlie Bell told us that his practice court highlight is “the defense, how everybody’s helping each other. We’ve been doing a lot as far as team defense. If you’re teammate gets beat, you need to be there to help them. I’m really impressed by the way guys are helping each other.”

Excitement is running through the Bucks training center as the routine is about to shift from going up against teammates in practice each day to getting the job done during the preseason schedule. Monday’s game is just the next step as coach Skiles and his staff build on favorable, early returns. -

paulpressey25 wrote:“I think the Jefferson trade was critical. The greatest trade we made was for Oscar Robertson. After that, I think the Jefferson trade falls in there in the top three or four. That, along with the other players we have, I’m real hopeful for this season.”

stellation wrote:"What's the difference between Gery Woelful and this glass of mineral water? The mineral water actually has a source."

paulpressey25 wrote:“I think the Jefferson trade was critical. The greatest trade we made was for Oscar Robertson. After that, I think the Jefferson trade falls in there in the top three or four. That, along with the other players we have, I’m real hopeful for this season.”

You can see why Johnny Mac has started to distance himself from that type of stuff these days. I think Jim has taken over his share of that stuff in addition to his (Jim's) own PR spin. So the end result is Paschke is more unbearable.

Of all the things the Milwaukee Bucks were lacking for a large portion of this decade, one of the less tangible qualities, but one that nevertheless will help shape their course from here, was a sense of professionalism.

While it may be more difficult to quantify professionalism than the effects of a lock-down defender or a power forward who can score, its absence was almost as damaging as it manifested itself in players being late for practice, meetings and buses, and the general malaise characterized by an undisciplined team.

While being on time and disciplined won't by themselves win NBA games, those assets that are the basis of professionalism are beginning to re-emerge in a team trying to do one of the hardest things in sports, which is to change a losing culture.does

"I know the bar has been raised," Hammond said. "I'm very nervous and apprehensive about what we're going to be.

"But it's OK for me to feel that way. We have Coach Skiles and his staff, and we have these guys (players) behind me and they believe."

35-47

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